Still Young Refreshes Retail Store for Sportswear Brand

Still Young has conceptualised new stores for Neiwai Active, a global brand that caters to the sportswear industry. Within the context of the globalised chain retail landscape, the design team anchored the concept in the brand’s product textures and styles, to infuse a distinctive sporty rhythm into the spatial experience of the store.

Inspired by Henry Matisse’s painting “The Dance”, the physical store located in Beijing, China, features a circular island installation that skillfully captures the strength and elegance of females during exercise, and harmoniously blends with the products to convey the rhythmic essence of dance. This design effectively communicates the brand’s spirit of “infinite love and extreme self-discipline”, derived from the world of ballet.

The formal design of model props emphasises strength and dynamism over the traditional, rigid arrangement of mannequins. The goal is to move away from conventional displays that lack narrative and an immersive feel, to establish a visual identity that differentiates Neiwai Active from other women’s wear brands.

Throughout the process from modeling to sample creation in the factory, the design team systematically considered the details of these custom mannequins. The goal was to explore authentic body language and showcase the graceful beauty of physical movement. The natural and lightweight resin used for mannequins is well-suited to the unique fabrics of products, and is consistent with the brand’s identity and product attributes.

A gentle atmosphere permeates the “interior” space, to differentiate it from the “external” environment of the property. Every inch of space is designed with purity, offering a pleasing, expansive and free visual experience. The 3-metre-long island becomes the visual focal point, contributing to a smooth loop circulation. Open circulation allows customers to freely explore the displayed products, providing a broad view and a playful spatial experience.

A combination of wood, curved lines and modular elements is employed as key components to construct the space. Through appropriate proportions, scales and the play of light and shadows, the design creates a space reminiscent of a pilates studio, characterised by rich layering and a serene vibe.  

In lighting design, the design team utilised soft floodlighting to establish a welcoming atmosphere while ensuring essential illumination. Beams, air outlets and spotlight tracks are embedded into the overall structure. Spotlight tracks are strategically positioned on the side panels for supplementary lighting, to create diverse atmospheres and scenes through point light sources and natural light.

The regularly criss-crossing wooden ceiling facilitates a gentle transition between light and architecture. It is intended to simulate a komorebi-like effect, evoking a scene that sunlight filters through trees in a forest.

The interior walls emanate a sense of softness and order. Designed in the likeness of curved petals, these walls utilise sheet-like prefabricated decorative modules to emulate the appearance of cloth while retaining the pure and simple expressive texture of the material itself. The light brings subtle variations to the wood-grain surface, adding a sense of movement to the minimalist space. Meanwhile, the random fabric details enrich the overall spatial experience.

Through the investigation of brick and mortar stores, the design team identified challenges that required resolution, such as conflicts between functional areas arising from a weakened signage system. The primary challenges for this project involved how to systematically organise display and functional areas, and how to establish a more systematic signage system and display design to guide the circulation in the space.

In crafting display props, the designers used curved surfaces to balance with the right angles in the space. The overall rational tone is complemented by wooden and textile textures, achieving a subtle balance between square and roundness, rigidity and softness, and creating a flexible scale in the space.

The interior skin of the space is defined by soft-tone walls, while the displayed products and props are extensions of the “exterior”. The interior facades feature concealed structures, which are embedded into the framework to simulate sewing threads, making the interior facades like an envelope for the skeleton.

The design team tailored modular props for Neiwai Active’s different products series such as “MOVE”, “On Spot” and “On the Go”. Additionally, custom-sized panel walls were also created for accessories within these garment series.

Assemblable prefabricated modules provide convenience for maintenance and replacement, and also offer abundant space options for garment storage and organisation. In addition, these modular components provide flexibility to cater to the operational needs of the store, such as incorporating new arrivals and adapting to the changing lengths of clothing in different seasons.

The display design does not intend to separate different product series, but rather to guide customer behaviours in the store and to capture their attention with the visual elements. After analysing the product series, the design team developed a display solution accommodating different scales and multiple scenes. The display scheme prioritises the compatibility of display props and garments while integrating design aesthetics with technological functions.

Still Young employed efficient modular design and delicate lighting displays to fulfill the functional requirements of the stores. The design team leveraged the soft texture of fabric and the dynamic tension of movement to craft a distinctive space to engaging with the brand. This design approach conveys the brand’s ethos of “capture beautiful moments, maintain inner harmony, and embrace external challenges.”

In narrating the brand’s story, the space unfolds a delightful shopping journey for consumers. It conveys an expectation that females discover more possibilities while embracing themselves.

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